Mahtook continues hot start to spring

LAKELAND, Fla. – Credit Mikie Mahtook for taking the right approach against Jacob deGrom on a day when the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner was spotting 99 mph fastballs for strikes.

“It’s not always fun to see stuff like that early in Spring Training, I can tell you that,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said after Friday’s 7-1 loss to the Mets.

Mahtook swung at the first pitch he saw, and lined a double past a lunging attempt from Mets left fielder Tim Tebow. Not only was it the Tigers’ lone hit off deGrom, it was the last ball he even allowed to be put in play. deGrom struck out Detroit’s next three batters.

It wasn’t necessarily the swing Mahtook was looking for. All Spring Training, the right-handed hitter has been trying to spray line drives to center and right field, getting away from the pull approach that seemed to doom him last season.

But considering the hole that Mahtook dug for himself with a rough Spring Training last year, he’s not in position to downplay hits, however -- and wherever -- they fall.

Mahtook went just 9-for-56 last spring, a slump deep enough to put his roster spot at risk. He made the Opening Day roster, but a 4-for-31 slump with 10 strikeouts landed him at Triple-A Toledo. The momentum his solid 2017 season created, earning him a regular spot in Detroit’s lineup, was over.

Mahtook does not want to return to that spot again.

“I put in a lot of work in the offseason to get to the point where I am now,” he said. “I have to trust that, and I have to trust the process. Obviously it’s baseball, so there’s going to be ups and downs, but I’m not putting any extra pressure on myself to have a good Spring Training. I just know that the work that I put in and the stuff that I’ve changed, I think it’s going to translate into a better spring.”

So far, that work is paying off. Friday’s double was his fifth hit of this spring, more than halfway to last year’s total for his entire Grapefruit League slate. Add in a pair of walks, and he has reached base safely seven times in 13 plate appearances. It’s a small sample size, but considering his sub-.200 career Spring Training batting average, with a .253 on-base percentage, it’s notable.

The work Mahtook put in involved not just his approach, but his swing. He tried to get quicker to the ball with less wasted movement so that he could get to more pitches.

“I had a lot of moving parts last year,” he said. “I was jumpy. I wasn’t really balanced. I put myself in a lot of bad positions. I wasn’t really in positions to hit. So I worked this offseason on trying to be a little bit smoother and quieter and more relaxed.

“Whenever I’m good and feeling good, everything’s up the middle or to right-center. I’ll pull, but I’m not looking to pull balls. But last year I just never got myself in that position. I felt like everything was forcing me that way. So I worked on trying to get back to up the middle and being smooth and relaxed. That’s kind of the stuff that I’ve been doing.”

The differences between 2017 and 2018 were pretty clear for Mahtook, whose strikeout percentage rose from 20.8 percent to 26.4 according to Statcast. His walk rate also increased, but it did little to temper a 54-point drop in his on-base percentage.

Mahtook’s plate discipline actually improved -- he swung at more pitches inside the zone and fewer pitches outside of it. But his contact rate dropped all around, according to Statcast.

“Once you make good contact, and once you put a good swing on a ball, it’s kind of out of your control,” Mahtook said. “If I’m hitting balls hard and I’m putting myself in good counts and good positions, and I’m putting on good swings, that’s all I can really ask for.”

Mahtook has one big factor in his favor this spring: He’s out of Minor League options. So unless he has an awful spring, the Tigers’ best move to preserve depth is to carry him on the roster, most likely as a fourth outfielder.

“[Either] he makes a team, or he won’t clear waivers if he doesn’t make this team,” Gradenhire said. “But I think it’s just maturity more than anything else. He’s been up and down, and you learn to handle it like he did last year. Now he gets it. He’s in great shape and his swing’s good, so hopefully that will continue.”